2013

Doyle welcomes Home Renovation tax incentive scheme for Wicklow homeowners

graham 2013, Dáil Éireann, Wicklow - East Carlow

HomeImprovementFine Gael TD for Wicklow, Andrew Doyle, has welcomed the announcement in the Budget of a home renovation tax incentive scheme. Deputy Doyle said the pro-jobs package worth €500 million will be of benefit to the thousands of homeowners throughout County Wicklow.

Deputy Doyle said, “This scheme will greatly assist families with the cost of renovating their homes, while also giving a much needed boost to the construction industry in terms of job creation.”

“With many families across County Wicklow living in houses that no longer suit their needs due to their expanding families, the home renovation tax incentive scheme will allow them to renovate their homes to make them more suitable and claim back the VAT of 13.5% over a two year period.”

“This measure will also allow the many skilled construction workers who are on the Live Register to re-enter the workforce. VAT can be claimed back on a home renovation project costing between €5,000 and €30,000. In order to be eligible for this scheme, people must use a tax compliant and VAT registered contractor”, Deputy Doyle continued.

“Through the introduction of 25 separate measures that support job creation as part of a €500 million pro-jobs package in this year’s Budget, we can build on the progress being made in encouraging investment in Ireland and tackling our unemployment problem. The unemployment rate has fallen for each of the last 15 months and 3,000 additional jobs are now being created every month.”

“I note that Chambers Ireland, the country’s largest business organisation, has warmly welcomed the Budget, saying its members across Ireland are now looking forward with confidence to a positive Christmas period. I share this sentiment and look forward to building on our economy recovery with pro-jobs schemes such as this”, concluded Deputy Doyle.

€12.3 million paid to 1,789 in Wicklow under advanced 2013 Single Farm Payments – Doyle

graham 2013, Agriculture, Dáil Éireann, Wicklow - East Carlow

FarmingFine Gael TD for Wicklow and Chairman of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, Andrew Doyle, has welcomed €12.3 million in funding which has been paid to 1,789 farmers in County Wicklow as part of advanced payments under the 2013 Single Payments Scheme, as approved by the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney TD.

Deputy Doyle said, “A total of €540 million is being paid to 108,000 farmers across the country, as part of the Single Payments Scheme. I am very pleased that Minister Coveney has secured approval to make these payments six weeks ahead of schedule. This will come as a source of relief to the 1,789 farmers in Wicklow which are sharing in a total of €12.3 million in payments.”

“The Single Payments Scheme is a very important source of income for the Irish agricultural community, and this latest series of payments follow the €169 million which has been paid out to over 80,000 farmers under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, which began issuing three weeks ago.”

“Minister Coveney was very conscious of the fact that farmers were suffering cash flow shortages due to the challenges posed by adverse weather conditions earlier this year, and with this in mind he approached the EU Agriculture Commissioner to seek approval for early payments. Thanks to the Minister’s representations, payments are being made six weeks earlier than scheduled.”

“Payments will be issued twice weekly up until 30th November, with balancing payments to issue as and from the 1st December. It is important that any farmer who has received correspondence from the Department of Agriculture highlighting problems in relation to their application responds without delay. This will ensure these cases can be processed and payments issued as soon as possible.”

“The Minister has assured farmers that payments will continue to issue under both schemes, on an ongoing basis, as individual cases are cleared. I urge all farmers in Wicklow to engage fully with the process to ensure they can receive their payments without delay”, concluded Deputy Doyle.